Women's Bridal Gifts: Understanding Property Rights

Understanding The Property Rights to Women’s Bridal Gifts: A Comprehensive Guide

A bride usually receives a lot of gifts from her family and friends when she gets married, in addition to an expensive ceremony, clothing, and celebration. Property rights pertaining to dowery, hereditary, and bridal gifts for women have long been under dispute.

Any moveable or immovable assets, like as gold or jewellery, a car, or real estate, that a woman receives as presents or dowry during her marriages are often assumed to also belong to her husband to a significant extent. In relation to bridal gifts, this article discusses why it’s crucial to understand what property rights are, who owns them, and how you may make sure you obtain what is really yours on your wedding day.

Pakistan Women’s Rights Act

The following Pakistani laws govern women’s property rights:

Muslim Marriage Dissolution Act 1874
Married Women’s Property Act 1939
The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance of 1961
Muslim Personal Law Application Act of 1962 in West Pakistan
Anti-Women Practices Prevention Act of 2011

The majority of women are utterly unaware of their rights to own a home, receive bridal gifts, and divide the family property due to ignorance and some archaic cultural norms. They are not aware of the fundamental rights that Islam and Pakistan’s Constitution guarantee them, nor do they know how to legally exercise those rights. It may be the primary cause of the high proportion of women who across the country forego inheritances and other acquired assets in favor of their male family members.

Rights Of Women on Dower or Mehr

A predetermined sum of money known as the Mehr or dower is typically given by the groom to his wife when they get married. It may occasionally be a share of the family’s inheritance or it may just be a physical object, like a piece of gold jewellery. This amount acts as security for the wife in various nations and cultures in the event that her husband deserts her or passes away before she does.

In addition, the Muslim Family Laws Act of 1961 and the Property Transfer Act of 1882 ensure that the woman has complete control over the property once the right of ownership is transferred into her name, including the freedom to sell it without sharing the proceeds with her husband.

Who Is the Owner of Women’s Bridal Gifts’ Property Rights?

The Supreme Court has ruled that the bride’s wedding gifts are her property and will remain as such in light of Islam. The Dowry and Bridal Gifts (restriction) Act of 1976 forbids excessive dowry expenditure, although it remains a significant cultural and societal issue across the country.

According to Pakistan’s Shariat Law, the wedding gifts may be added to but not taken away from its rightful owner, the wife. “The Holy Quran triggered a revolutionary awakening, and for the first time in Muslim theology, women’s rights were established in a relatively inconceivable fashion,” Justice Qazi Faez Isa said following the hearing of a property-related dispute.

The Holy Qur’an states that a woman does not require anyone’s consent in order to keep or sell her property, and any legacy she may have been solely her own asset. Even her husband, father, brother, or son do not have any claim to it. According to the renowned English journal, the court decided that gifts given to a woman at the time of her marriage are her assets and will always remain such.

FINAL REMARKS

Our in-depth discussion of property rights pertaining to women’s bridal gifts comes to a conclusion now. Islamist philosophy serves as the foundation of Pakistan. Islam recognizes women as having ownership rights over all of their possessions. Additionally, if they get any gifts of personal items, they are free to sell or otherwise dispose of them without consulting their husbands or any other male family members. Therefore, as Muslims and citizens of Pakistan, we should uphold Islamic laws and regulations rather than altering them to suit our personal preferences.